About the course

The School Direct Salaried Training Programme is either a one year, full-time, school based route or a two year, part-time, school based route.

Trainees will achieve QTS and have an option to be enrolled on a Masters Programme with the University of Derby for the award of PGCE. Training is majority school-based with some centre-based training. Training occurs at various locations across Essex so we take into account your home address to try to keep travelling time to a minimum. You will receive training on the general aspects of successful teaching and training around teaching your specific phase within primary.

In school, you will work closely with a phase specific mentor and the ITT coordinator, who will meet regularly with you to assist you with your training plan. You will also have an external tutor who works for Essex Teacher Training, who will visit you in school 5 times in the year to check on your progress towards meeting the Teachers' Standards.

The PGCE is delivered locally in Essex by the University of Derby and comprises 3 assignments, which are spread across the course of the year.

Trainees will have access to an online e-portfolio system and online resources along with face to face training sessions. These along with the excellent support from in-school mentors and tutors from Essex Teacher Training, will mean you will feel fully prepared for working in the classroom. Your teaching load will start small and increase gradually as the year progresses. The rate at which this increases will be decided by you and your tutors and take into account any prior experience.

Assessment is via observations of your teaching, reflective pieces of writing and specific tasks relating to the different Teachers' Standards.

If you wish to train on the part-time School direct programme, this is typically for 3 days a week over the course of 2 years. The programme is very similar to the one year programme in terms of support and delivery, the only difference being that you will be in school 2 days per week and attend training on 1 day a week. The majority of centre-based training will take place in Year 1 and you may be enrolled on the Masters programme for the PGCE in Year 2.

There is an optional additional support programme available, offered a few times during the school year by the Lead School.

Interview process

You will be invited to an initial interview with our accredited provider, which will include a short presentation about why you wish to teach, a written task and formal interview with a small panel of representatives from Essex Teacher Training. If successful at Phase I, you will be invited to an interview in one of our partner schools. This interview could include: an activity with pupils eg teaching part of a lesson, or taking a group activity; a pupil panel interview and a formal interview with a small panel of representatives from the school and wider School Direct partnership. If successful at Phase II, you will be given a conditional offer of a place to train.

How school placements work

Full-Time Trainees will complete training in two different schools during the course of the year. Typically, trainees spend the autumn term in their host school and then go to a second placement school during the first part of the Spring term and then return to their host school for the remainder of the year. Trainees attend one day a week training and are in school for the other 4 days a week.

Trainees on a part-time course attend one day a week training and are in a host school for the other 2 days a week in their first year. In their second year they are in school for 3 days a week and undertake a second placement during the Spring term then return to their host school for the summer term.

We endeavour to keep travelling time to school to a minimum so we will take into account your home address when allocating a school.

The programme covers the primary age ranges 3-7 or 5-11 and you will be teaching within one of these age ranges.

Currently we have 11 partner schools in Harlow and the surrounding areas of Essex and Hertfordshire

Salary

Salary is calculated using the unqualified teachers' pay scales

Course fee is £0.

Trainees will have the opportunity to sign up for the PGCE with the University of Derby. This is available at a cost of £1950. Access to the PGCE is offered locally - you do not need to travel to Derby for this.

Financial support

Financial support isn’t available for this course because it comes with a salary.

If you choose a course without a salary, you may be eligible for financial support while you study, including bursaries, scholarships and loans.

Requirements

Qualifications

Degree Qualification

A first degree at classification 2:2 or above. A first degree comprises 300 HE credits of which 60 must be at Level 6 of QCF. If your degree is from a non-UK university you will need to approach NARIC to gain an equivalence certificate.

GCSE Qualifications

GCSEs or equivalent at grade 4 in English, maths and science.

DfE Professional Skills Tests in Numeracy and Literacy

You are required to sit your first skills test within 8 weeks of being made a conditional offer and you must pass both skills tests prior to starting the programme.

Personal qualities

We are looking for high quality graduates with a passion for learning who are committed to transforming the lives of young people through education.

Other requirements

Trainees on the School Direct Salaried Training Programme need a minimum of 3 years paid work experience, most of which must be in an educational setting.

Harlow Teacher Training Partnership and it's schools are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all trainees to support this commitment. Successful applicants will be subject to satisfactory references and an enhanced DBS check.

About the training provider

Harlow Teacher Training Partnership (HTTP) is led by St. Alban's Catholic Academy, the Lead School for Teacher Training in Harlow.

​HTTP's role is to be an initial point of contact for potential trainees; work with Essex Teacher Training on admissions; co-ordinate the placement of trainees in the Harlow Partnership Schools and monitor the training courses and placements. But we offer more than just this ...

​A voluntary experience placement scheme is run by St. Alban's Catholic Academy for potential trainees. This may help candidates to decide on a particular Key Stage of interest, gain more knowledge of a typical teacher's working day, gain some subject/curriculum knowledge, gain more experience in working in the classroom generally.

Skills test support for potential trainees holding offers is available

Ongoing additional support programmes run through the training year, NQT year and NQT+1

We have many partner schools in Harlow and surrounding areas and with such a range of placements available, we endeavour to find the school to suit each individual.

Training with disabilities and other needs

We work very closely with Essex Teacher Training, our training provider and together we are committed to offering all prospective trainees the opportunity to gain QTS. If you have a specific need, we can discuss this with you at interview and agree a suitable level of support.